Op-Ed: A fifth navy servicemen, a man injured in the Chattanooga shootings Thursday, has died. He was a petty officer but at time of writing he has not been named.

But Reuters reports a family member has identified the man as Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith of Paulding, Ohio.

The attack is being investigated by the FBI who is treating the shootings as an act of home-grown terrorism. That categorisation may change as the investigation moves on.

The motive for the attack is not clear at this time and speculation would be premature and could inflame the situation.

The alleged shooter was Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, a Kuwaiti-born naturalized U.S. citizen. He was shot dead exchanging fire with police.

He carried a hand-gun and two long-guns in the attack. Police took possession of another rifle after searching his home.

Four marines were killed outright in the shootings at two locations. Two other people sustained injuries.

Investigators are looking into any possible links with the Islamic State in Middle Eastern countries and have confirmed Abdulazeez travelled abroad more than once in 2014. He is believed to have at least visited Jordan but then he may have had family in the region.

A friend of the shooter named as Abdulrazzak Brizada by CNN claims Abdulazeez changed after his foreign trips and began to keep himself to himself. "Something happened over there, he never became close to me like he was before he went overseas. ... I'm sure he had something that happened to him overseas."

Sources said "he was born Mohammad Youssuf Saeed Hajj Ali on September 5, 1990, but that his father changed his name that year to Abdulazeez."

There appears some confusion over his original nationality but Jordan denies he was one of their nationals at any time.

But the facts are:

Abdulazeez sprayed gunfire at a joint military recruiting center in a strip mall, then drove to a Naval Reserve Center about 6 miles (10 km) away, where he killed the Marines before he himself was shot dead. Three other people were injured, including the sailor who the Navy said had died on Saturday - Reuters

At time of writing agents investigating the shootings are keeping fairly quiet about the shooter.

In time we may learn, the who, the why and more of this tragedy or act of terror; but we may never know the real truth.

Op-Ed: A mass shooting Tuesday in the Druzba restaurant in the small town of Uhersky Brod in the eastern Czech Republic killed nine including the gunman but was declared not to be terrorist related.

While we understand what authorities mean when they declare events terrorist or non-terrorist a civilian shooting and killing eight people is surely an act of terror?

The killer, aged 63, had a gripe with local police and had threatened to take matters into his own hands. The Mail Online reports "Czech public radio said the gunman called a local television station before the attack, complaining that police weren't solving his problems and threatening that he would "take things into his hands."

He carried two licensed weapons in the attack. He burst into the restaurant around lunchtime shooting as he entered the building; one man escaped the madness as he was in the bathroom when the massacre took place.

The gunman fired on police officers as they approached the cafe but ultimately turned his weapon on himself.

An ongoing investigation meant that little information was initially made public but Wednesday the killer was named locally as Zdenek Kovar after police stormed the gunman's home. His wife had barricaded herself in the property. Later after police gained access she was taken to hospital and police searched the gunman's home for more weapons.

A waitress was injured in the shooting and underwent surgery Tuesday afternoon. Her condition remains very serious. There were other casualties. All the victims plus the alleged killer were local people.

Some people in the Czech Republic keep guns for hunting but the country has tight gun laws.

But where there is a gun and the will there is the potential for a massacre.

According to official figures, Czechs own 761,000 firearms in a population - or one to every 14 Czech citizens.

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